Portals fill you with Determination
by raspberryrubidium
Summary: Sans is aware. He knows about the resets, and can travel through his 'short-cuts' to many places in Undertale. And one day, to Aperture Science.
1. Hello, Skeleton?

Just...need...that...cube!  
I shot a portal across from it and leapt down, wind whistling past my ears, propelling myself through the facility in what must have seemed a brilliant blur of orange. My face was the first part of me to hit the ledge, as I smacked into it full speed, and proceeded to slide down in a rather ungainly manor. I heard the ghost of GLaDOS's laughter and the static of the speakers cutting off. _No fair_ , I thought as I tentatively rubbed my jaw with my free hand, _She could at least give me some help. Or a hint. Or maybe Wheatley could get me out of here sometime soon. Ugh, why is it so far up._

Portal here, portal there. Half heartedly, I walked, jumped, paced angrily, and then just glared at the cube as a means to gain pity. Surprisingly, the final tactic worked.

"Hey, kiddo, can't help but see you want that box there."

I raised an eyebrow and looked up to my left, fully expecting another personality core. A bleached white skeleton was the last thing I had in mind, so instinctively I stiffened; my challenge face on for whatever trick GLaDOS was about to play on me. He bounced his weight from one foot to the other, his permanent grin seemed to flash. He took my suspicious squint as a question.

"Oh, how I got here? Well, like your hair, a short cut."

I resisted the urge to grab my pony-tail, and instead offered a weak smile at the (now inexplicably winking) skeleton leaning against the panels. This was no sick creation of Aperture, clearly some sick result of the outside. He dug his hands further in his hoodie.

"You don't speak, do you? You're just like our Frisk. Silent and determined, must be a human thing. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. Look, do you want the box or not?" he asked in a very laid back tone.

I nodded without hesitation, and his response appeared to be to make his left eye glow, and I began to shiver. This was no science that I was used to, neither was the floating. I was fixed in my position, swaying across the chamber, all power lost. Held in his untrustworthy, bony hands. I don't recall a sense of fear, only feeling ... blue, but the colour. It doesn't make sense now, but that's how I felt at the time. But the skeleton simply lifted me up and placed me apon the ledge, as I gently landed his eye went back to his ordinary pupil.

The speakers crackled into life.  
"Hey, Animated Remains of the Deceased , I don't mind your little chat, but now you're ruining science for everyone. You should feel very, _very_ ashamed of yourself."

Sans merely shrugged and looked across at me. I nodded my thanks and threw the Weighted Storage Cube at the button, and the stairs to the lift emerged. He stared a while at it, and then turned back to me.

"I need to go back home anyways, I think my bro has made more spaghetti. See you around, kid." he stated casually, before vanishing without a trace. Unless...

I shot a portal up to his previous position, and looked down. He had in fact left a trace, a lone whoopee cushion that I deflated and shoved in my jumpsuit pocket before heading up to the stairs. Halfway up they folded away and the doors shut. I landed (with a fart noise) on the floor, looking irritatedly at the de materialised cinders of the cube.

"Cheating is a terrible thing to learn from that skeleton. What you should have done was become envious of his slender frame, that way watching you test would be easier on the optic. Go on, finish the test."

I sighed, and got to work.


	2. No portal I've seen

"SANS, CAN I COME IN YOUR ROOM"

"if you let me tell a knock-knock joke."

"SANS, NO."

"please, come on papyrus"

"LOOK, I'LL GIVE YOU SPAGHETTI IF YOU LET ME IN."

"i won't spag-let-ti you in"

"SAAANNSS!"

Sans swung open his door and swiftly shut it again, his grin widening in a mischievous manor . Papyrus presented him with a mixing bowl full of spaghetti, only he had put multicoloured sprinkles in as well as the herbs, seemingly trying to create a festive meal. He took the bowl from Papyrus to examine it more closely.

"FRISK SUGGESTED THE IDEA, I THINK THEY LIKE COLOURS!" He shouted, waving his long arms around whilst speaking and pointing his fingers.

"ISN'T IT GREAT HAVING OUR OWN HUMAN?! I CAN CHAT TO THEM, I COULD GIVE THEM PUZZLES IF I WANT, I CAN FEED THEM SPAGHETTI..."

Sans gave back the bowl and looked up at his younger brother, who was going wild about the kid (who was presumably sat downstairs listening in ), and couldn't help laughing to himself. Seeing Papyrus happy always made him happy too. Well, happier.

"you really like having a human hang around, huh."

"YES, IT'S BRILLIANT!"

"what if you had two?"

Papyrus dropped his spaghetti.

...

I coughed a little, and took a couple of steps back from the generator to admire the destruction amidst the emerald gas, the whole thing collapsing in on itself.

"HA! The tube's broken! We can ride it straight to her!" Wheatley called from behind, and I spun round to see him flapping about on his management rail like rags in the wind. I jumped down the stair to peer through the glass, the whole room shook and the door rattled on its hinges. Wheatley shouted and called, his blue optic sputtering as he willed me to get in there whilst he could still hold on. I walked in front of the entrance and was pulled through with great speed, and found myself...

On a green sofa, with Wheatley powered out by my side. I jumped up to my feet, and stared in bewilderment at the homely surroundings. The striped carpets weren't of GLaDOS's taste at all, but in an attempt to cling to normality I picked up my friend and tried to see why his optic was so firmly closed. There was a soft whirr that suggested he was still operating, however he did not respond to my touch.

"GREETINGS, HUMAN!"

I whipped round and threw Wheatley at my attacker.

"OUCH! BUT DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN, FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM TOUGHER THAN YOUR METAL OBJECT."

 _Brilliant, another skeleton._ This one, though, was significantly taller than Sans, and made a show of brushing his chest off and rolling Wheatley under his foot. I frowned. Watching me behind him was Sans, who gave me a brief wave that I did not return. He shrugged and looked at the taller skeleton again.

"IN FACT, I AM SO STRONG AND TOUGH THAT I SHALL ONE DAY BE IN THE ROYAL GUARD! YOU HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE TOO, BUT YOU HAVE NOT BEEN BORN WITH AS MANY NATURAL ABILITIES AS I HAVE."

Sans rolled his eyes, as did I, causing Papyrus to scowl and fold his arms. But whatever resentment he had quickly dissolved when a little kid ran out from across the room towards him. Then the tall skeleton turned to mush, jabbering on about puzzles and pasta, picking up the child and swinging them round. They wriggled to try and get down, then picked up Wheatley and gave him to me. Their eyes were brown and filled with wonder and compassion, and I couldn't help but stare into them as I took my friend back.

"do you like your new pal, Frisk?"

Sans strolled up and ruffled the kids hair, and they nodded happily. He chuckled, and then turned to me.

"do you like your new place?" he asked, but with a tone of concern. As if he cared. I looked about at my settings, and in all honesty I was just glad that I was out of Aperture. In response I tilted my head in a neither yes-nor-no way, then fished out the whoopee cushion from my pockets and handed it to the skeleton.

"nah, you can keep it. i've got plenty in my room."

Suddenly, Papyrus jumped up and ran through the door into another room, and I jumped with him, ready to face any threat.

"I ALMOST FORGOT! YOU ARE MY GUEST, AND I HAVEN'T OFFERED YOU ANY SPAGHETTI!"


	3. Are you sure?

Snowdin was a very cold place I realised as Papyrus and I walked a while through it. I say walked; he was a great deal faster that me and I had to keep a jogging pace through the snow. Despite its musty smell, I untied the shirt piece of my jumpsuit and wore it as full, until finally we stopped. Then the skeleton turned to me and looked sullenly into my eyes.

"OKAY, WE ARE GOING TO GO THROUGH THESE PUZZLES...BACKWARDS." He resumed his cheerful state. SO THAT YOU MAY COMPLETE THEM AND SO I MAY STOP YOU COMING OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE." he declared. I raised my eyebrows and leant into him to make him realise his mistake. I wasn't in the mood for testing anyway, even if it was just fun skeleton puzzles. He remained quiet for a while, so I pushed my portal gun into his chest in a jokey manor.

"ALTHOUGH...YOU'RE ALREADY AT THE OTHER SIDE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH! I SUPPOSE THIS HAS BEEN A TRIP FOR NOTHING!" he cried, and his laughter was so infectious that I couldn't help but giggle, which perplexed Papyrus. He crouched to watch me, before shaking his skull and striding off back home with speed. I caught my breath and ran ahead of him, jumping around in the snow like a hare. Papyrus eventually joined the race, but skidded to a halt when we neared the house.

"Finally! Another human, whose soul I may take!" shrieked the blue monster ahead of me. I was used to all the strange people by then, but the insane gleam in her lone eye made me step back towards Papyrus. I noticed the little kid stood behind the fish lady, looking worried. I wasn't sure who for.

"Papyrus, go inside. This one's mine!"

She leapt towards me, brandishing her spear that was eerily glowing blue in contrast to her florescent red hair. Then the fish monster proceeded to throw a multitude at spears at me, which I had to dodge with great difficulty. Quivering, I tried to work out what my move would be. _She's no turret, I can't just tip her over to make her stop._ She started once more, with more weapons hurled at me that I thought possible. I decided to use my best defence mechanism, which was to fire my portal gun randomly at all the surroundings, despite there being no surfaces.

"Fuhuhuhuhu! You really think that AAAAAAAH!" The fish lady writhed on the floor in the shower of orange sparks, giving up her attack completely to squirm in fear. After a couple of seconds she regained her composure and stood, mustering as much dignity as possible. She hunched over, then bore her eye into me as though not to admit defeat.

"You...have control over fire. You tried to kill me. If I'd had known..." She begun, as I looked down at my Hand-held Portal Device. I shook my head, and raised the gun again, to which she smacked the end of it down frenziedly. I paused, uncertain what I could do to gain her trust. Finally, I laid my gun on the floor in front of her, then offered my hand to her slightly trembling form. Eventually the fish lady simply scrutinised me, nodded and left with a haughty walk.

"I need to find Alphys" I heard her mumble as she trudged away.

The small child didn't follow, but picked up my gun to see if it really was a flame thrower of sorts, awkwardly handling it and struggling under it's weight. Their skin seemed very tanned compared to the artificial white, though there was no sunshine in this place. When satisfied that it couldn't have done any harm to her anyway,they grinned at me before rushing of with the device to Sans, who I assumed must have crept up on us, though there were no prints in the snow.

"hey, Frisk, nice gun you got there. guns can't shine a candle to puns though." He took my portal gun from the child and tossed it around as though it was a toy.

"other human, I think your mum wants you." Sans casually remarked. I pulled my sourest expression, awaiting some orphan-related joke. He awkwardly shifted his gaze to the kid, then back to me.

"well, she's been complaining to me that her favourite human has left, 'who's going to progress science, I'm so bored' type thing." He said plaintively, digging his hands in his pockets as something to do. He must have portalled back to Aperture and desired to take me back there, and I felt a pang of betrayal. To convey my dislike, I folded my arms and shook my head firmly, adamant on not leaving . Frisk seemed pretty determined about something too, pawing at Sans's jacket. Carefully, Sans picked them up and shook them gently, looking adoringly into their eyes. He then simply held Frisk and seemed to be contemplating.

"eh, it's just a load of puzzles and robots, isn't it? Nothing our Frisk can't handle anyways." He said in a more upbeat tone, and the kid smiled and clapped their hands. It took me a couple of seconds to realise he wasn't entirely joking. _Surly he sees how dangerous that place is? He's not going to..._ With a completely unnecessary wink, Sans pulled Frisk closer against him and faded away in a blur of blue.


	4. Aperture Friends

"Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science computer aided enrichment centre."

GLaDOS took a moment to view the tiny human who was excitedly dashing through the portals and leaping around without any further instructions given. A long time had passed since She had tested on children, 'Bring Your Daughter To Work Day' was the best period for that in Her time. Now She gazed with Her optic half-closed at the child who waggled their fingers through the portals and giggled when they felt the edge. She had almost forgotten that the portals induced a tingling sensation, 'tickling' them as they would say. But GLaDOS was not taking notes on these results, only saying that the Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Device needed much size reduction but remained fully functional. The interesting part was only a couple of tests away...

"Who's there?"

 _Test subject approaches turret with caution, attempts to communicate. Turret fires._

"I see you!"

GLaDOS watched more closely, willing them to have at least half the wits of Chell: She didn't want her sole test subject dead on the eleventh test. She bitterly regretted not trying to guard Her facility from insanely powerful teleporting beings.

 _Test subject wipes blood off hand on Not-Aperture-Approved-Shirt, and smiles at the turret. Turret fires._

"There you are."

 _Test subject runs to turret and stands by it, relatively unharmed. Turret is unable to fire at subject, but is able to pin point location. Test subject reaches out to pet turret._

"Nononononono!"

 _Turret attempts to use impractical legs to inch away from the test subject, ineffectually . Test subject tries to comfort and calm the turret, and stretches arms ._

"Who ARE you?"

 _Turret SOMEHOW uses inner mechanisms to swing itself over to the left, tipping it over and effectively committing suicide to get away from the test subject. Test subject appears sad, and hugs the turret awhile before finishing the test.  
_

 _Test subject approaches second turret, and spins it around so it faces the wall, but does not tip it or attempt to communicate again.  
_

 _Test subject portals up to camera, and by precariously leaning through them gives the camera a hug. Am subjected to having to see pudgy child's face pressed up against lens. For no reason I find logical, I laugh a little and have to stop myself forcefully. I shall investigate why further. I scold the child for almost damaging vital testing apparatus. They don't appear to listen.  
_

 _1 minute later; Test subject has climbed onto camera._

 _3 minutes later; Test subject is still there_

 _3 minutes later; Test subject is still there._

 _Test subject is asleep, testing will have to wait. Increasing adrenal vapour.  
_

Meanwhile...

Papyrus was passionately chatting with Undyne (I left an apology note for her with him, still haven't got an acknowledgement but I learnt her name) and I didn't want to interrupt the two, and Sans was busy doing...something? He wouldn't tell me exactly what, and walked away too quickly for me to catch up or call to him. So I knelt outside his and Papyrus's house, tracing my fingers through the snow. One of their suggestions was to go speak to all the monsters who lived about Snowdin, but I didn't _want_ to. They still scared me a little.

I tried to fool myself that this was just life outside of Aperture, that I'd been secluded from civilisation for so long that I had forgotten that all these monsters lived underground. But nobody seems to know about science, only magic, and are completely and utterly fixated on the fact that I am human. The only one here now. I had never been round so many yet felt so alone.

I shifted my position and pulled my knees into my chest, willing the non-existent tears not to fall. My breath swirled in delicate curls before me, and as I sighed again I saw a yellow flower begin to unfurl slowly by my feet. It smiled at me in a friendly way, however just as it was about to speak there was a metal clang in the distance.

I was mesmerised, as was the flower, as a tall and well-built figure raced through the snow, only slightly stumbling on some patches, prancing towards me and talking all the way. As he neared I saw the robots luminous blue shoes, dials and glowing heart, not to mention the _magnificent_ hair. He skidded to a halt before me (crushing the flower slightly, who then scowled and disappeared into the ground), flashing an irresistible grin, seemingly waiting for something other that my bewildered stare. He pursed his metallic lips.

"Oy Oy, miss me?" he said in an oh-so-familiar voice.

And then to confirm my suspicions, he transformed back into his core self. I didn't know how, but my Wheatley was back and I was overjoyed! He switched back in a flash to his more humanoid self and then, to take advantage of his new body, picked me up and twirled me round whilst jabbering about reptile scientists and pink metal television stars, though I was barely listening. I suggested we go to Grillby's to talk more, and he dashed there as I navigated, still holding me in his arms.


	5. Brother of Mettaton

"OMG, are you Mettaton?!"

"Um, no, sorry. Same designer though, so that's somethi-"

"I swear you look just like one of his models, only more blue. And blonde. Kinda weird looking compared to Mettaton.."

"Oh, okay that was uncalled for! Can't I just get some food and not be swarmed. Heart warming though it is."

"You must be his little brother! Are you two going to start a show together?!"

"Well, I, um..."

I left Wheatley to his band of adoring fans, mindlessly nibbling at some fries that Grillby gave to me free of charge (claiming I was a lucky lady according to the red bird). Mentally, I thanked Sans for speedily touring round all the most popular places before leaving me to my own devices, not that I wouldn't have been able to manage myself. Wheatley was now clumsily signing napkins with curly W's, occasionally looking back at me with a smug-yet-concerned expression. But suddenly the bustle froze, so that only the crackling of Grillby's flame could be heard.

"hey, everyone" adressed the skeleton, his eye finding me at the back of the room and twinkling profusely. The gang surrounding Wheatley calmed down somewhat, each monster greeting Sans in return as he snapped his fingers through to me, and pulled out a worn crimson stool to sit down on. I cautiously sat next to him, raising one arm to query him on where he had been before. He silently shrugged at me. I offered him a fry. He shook his head. I looked away and focused on watching Grillby going about his work, it was always uncomfortable when somebody wouldn't lead the conversation for me.

Uneasily flickering my gaze back, I noticed Sans was fixedly staring at something just beyond my elbow. Ketchup. Once I had passed the bottle along the table, Sans dexterously unscrewed the cap, and to my disgust took a large swig from it. I didn't know how a _skeleton_ could drink, never mind gulp a condiment so heartily, so I tried my best to put on a brave face and not cringe like I so desperately wanted to. After another sip, he faced me, seeming less tense.

"there isn't a bone in my body that doesn't love ketchup"

He winked again as if it was a funny joke, but it was a lame pun at that, so I couldn't bring myself to smile (though a couple of the monsters sat by us began to crack up), and he slowly opened his eye and turned his attention back to the tomato sauce. Silence. Shivering, I rubbed my arms in the unexpected cold; the room melted away into darkness so all I could focus on was Sans' bright white skull.

"you know why I brought you here?"

I shook my head, though the gesture seemed unnecessary as Sans seemed prepared to monologue.

"i've done everything there is to be done, deja vu kills me some days. it's not wrong to want to change the course.

"obviously it's all Frisk, they're doing the right thing for now. but you can't place a burden as large as this all on a `child's shoulders."

I expected a smile in this pause, all I got was a grudging exhale.

"the big fight is coming, between Asgore and Frisk, but they have unfinished business still. i can't quite remember what will happen, but don't think it's good. it's strange knowing that it will all hinge on their decisions, whether we are all freed or if they want to start again."

I nodded solemnly, despite knowing very little about what he was muttering and its weight.

"so this is where you come in, understand? either Frisk can live in your place and we all wait, or you can fight, or you can simply protect the kid. i don't want them getting hurt" he said in a more serious and deep tone than I had heard, before I watched his pupils dissolve into his eye sockets. I didn't appreciate his disturbing party trick, and shoved him in the shoulder blade. He blinked them back and concluded.

"they're nice, so far. sometimes i suspect there is something ... unsavoury about their character, but i often let that feeling pass. so that's why you're here. and as you are, have fun!" He ended on a cheerier note.

"Ugh, I'm absolutely knackered, pick me up and take me to you're place." I heard a voice complain behind me, as the darkness pulled away I looked round and down to see Wheatley in his core form, optic blinking up happily at me. I noticed his crowds had returned to their tables, so I carefully bent down and pulled the construct up and settled him down on my lap. Just like the good old days.

"like the present?" asked Sans, tilting his skull towards him. I frowned.

"I'm sorry, uh, what?" Wheatley voiced my thoughts.

"not from me, from Undyne, sort of a symbol of respect. she never wants to try and fight you again, so she sent your broken pal to her girlfriend to fix." he explained.

"Oh yeah, Alphys! She's nice, sort of, in an awkward way. We chatted a bit and watched some anime and that, me and Mettaton were..." He began to ramble, like a giddy toddler, and Sans raised his bottle of ketchup as we headed back to the house to introduce Wheatley formally to Papyrus.


	6. Spaghetti Based Activities

"HELLO ROBOT-WHO-SAYS-HE-ISN'T-METTATON, WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS! HAVE SOME SPAGHETTI!"

"Oh, uh, it's Wheatley. And no thanks, I can't eat. Not unless you want my, haha, inner-most electronics being broken and leading to my death basically. Hahaha, yeah, um, no. Sorry about that."

"BU-BUT YOU MUST! YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE! YOU MUST EAT!"

"Well what do you want ME to do about it!? I can't even taste, it's all synthetic!"

"I HARDLY BELIEVE YOU!"

"do you know what a robot's favourite food is?"

"SANS!"

I drummed my fingers on the sofa, glad I wasn't in the increasingly-loud kitchen. Sans left holding a bag of chips, and was heading to the stairs when Undyne somersaulted off the back of the couch and stood in his way.

"Well?" she asked in a more polite tone than I'd expected. Sans grinned further.

" _nuts_ and bolts."

Undyne rolled her eye and let him pass, though not before aiming a spear at my fingers. I stopped tapping.

"FOR GOODNESS SAKE SANS!" Papyrus raged whilst judging Wheatleys silicone tongue. He sighed one long 'nyeh', and scratched his radius.

"WELL... I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. NEARLY ALL PAPYRUS-BASED ACTIVITIES INVOLVE SPAGHETTI... UNLESS YOU WANTED TO GO INTO MY ROOM AND DATE-"

"NO! What?! When did that come in?"

"IT WAS ONLY A SUGGESTION! FRI-"

"Do you fancy me?"

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS STANDAR-"

"I barely know you!"

"NEITHER DO I!"

"This escalated too quickly!"

"I NEVER SAI-"

"I'm flattered but seriously-"

"LET'S BOTH FORGET THIS HAPPENED!"

I pressed my hands to my face whilst Undyne guffawed beside me. The two were too awkward to leave the kitchen, and stood back to back. With her laughter, Undyne punched me in the arm, I didn't cry out but I knew there would be a purple bruise on my shoulder the next day. I had explained to her previously through many doodles that my (stolen) portal gun doesn't have any fire or heat involved, but she dismissed it as a double-bluff. Then said I was a big softie and threatened to take back Wheatley as she felt she could fight me and shouldn't have given him. Then said that since I no longer have my weapon, I should be prepared for battle at any moment, though currently we just shared laughs at other peoples expenses.

"Well, I, uh, instead of standing here... How about I make spaghetti and not eat it? That's something to do that is fun, right? And hopefully isn't suggestive-"

"YES, WHEATATTON-"

"Please don't call me that."

"THAT IS A PERFECT IDEA! SPAGHETTI MAKING IS AN ACTIVITY ONLY SHARED BY THE CLOSEST OF FRIENDS, WHICH I FEEL WE HAVE UNEXPECTEDLY BECOME. LET THE COOKING COMMENCE!"

 _Oh god no_. Wheatley, cooking. Wheatley, who had terrible ideas all the time. Wheatley, who thought a flash light could kill him. Wheatley, who suddenly had strong and powerful limbs, was going to cook!? I ran to the kitchen as fast as my legs would let me, I had to be there for whatever emergency that may follow. He smiled, his blue optic glowing with joy at my arrival. It would take too long to explain that I wasn't there to cook but to protect the moron from himself, so I simply smiled back. Undyne stormed through into the kitchen too, though for different purposes.

"Cooking has always been OUR thing, Papyrus, so I'm coming in too." she demanded.

The four of us were now squished together in the slightly-too-small kitchen, with Wheatley and I leant on the fridge as Papyrus bent down and took out all the ingredients carefully from the cupboards beneath the table. Undyne twitched at his slow and deliberate actions, before exploding.

"Let's get the ingredients out with **speed!** " she cried, stomping on the floor with such force that I had to pray that my long fall boots would keep me upright. Wheatley stumbled slightly, gripping my hand tightly and then producing a billion apologies for it. These were cut short, however, as all the cupboard doors imminently fell. Releasing a _particularly_ irritating pomeranian dog, that ran round and round the kitchen; enraging Papyrus, scaring Wheatley, confusing me, delighting Undyne, and causing Sans to pop round the kitchen to play a random trombone.

5 to 10 minutes later, with the dog dealt with using various violent methods, the cooking was going relatively well. The spaghetti was being boiled, Papyrus voting himself in charge of temperature because of 'The Incident' (that nobody is telling me about), Undyne was shouting at the pasta to make it boil faster, and Wheatley was holding the sauce as I stirred. The room was deafeningly loud due to all the shouty conversations, but somewhat harmonious at the same time. All was well, until a violent blue flash of light appeared from outside the kitchen. Then all cooking was deserted and dropped to the floor.

I arrived first, as the blue light took form into sharper edges. It was a portal, an Aperture one, leading to GLaDOS in her chamber beside a slightly singed Frisk. I reeled back at the familiar blinding white surfaces.

"Look! It's GLaDOS, She's made a portal here!" explained Wheatley, slightly timidly as Her optic narrowed at him. Frisk ran through the portal and straight up the stairs to Sans, who was leaning curiously forward on the banister.

"hey, how did you manage to-"

"I am the ruler of the greatest science facility on Earth!" She snapped "Of course I found a way to use portals and the power from your 'short-cuts' to get here. You're lesser-human is no longer required for testing." GLaDOS proceeded to survey everyone sneeringly, then stopped at me.

"Chell, if you ever miss contributing to science, you can always come back here. But if you don't, I can always force you back one way or another." She said sweetly, then proceeded to close the portal.

"Oh, and moron-android, no need to worry about me dragging you back. You're not needed in Aperture. Or anywhere, honestly."

Wheatley sighed, then looked back at the kitchen. Papyrus did too, with a slightly broken heart as his pasta dish was ruined.

"SANS, WE NEED TO TALK, BUT I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH COOKING AND DRAMA FOR ONE EVENING. LETS ALL GET SOME REST AND ME AND UNDYNE SHALL CLEAN UP."

Sans nodded, and guided the kid away before I could even wave at them. Wheatley drowsily returned to his core-form to save space, I grabbed him and flopped on the green sofa, the place where I'd been sleeping since I had arrived, and he powered down almost instantaneously. I was too shaken to nod off, and sat cradling Wheatley, watching Undyne furiously clean. Once the floor was gleaming she walked past me.

"That's that Appy-ture place, isn't it? I'll punch that woman if I get the opportunity." She uttered under her breath as she headed up. I stiffened at the thought of any of those kind monsters going in There, they'd be broken mentally and physically before they knew what happened.

Papyrus looked left, then right, before scurrying over to see me. He managed to crouch somewhat, meeting me at eye level. When he spoke, it was as if he was whispering, except he is so loud usually it was more like average talking.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW IRRITATING IT IS? HAVING AN OLDER BROTHER WHO WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING?"

I shook my head sadly, feeling a pang of jealousy. I'd never had any experience with any of my own family members, because of science.

"HMMF! WELL IT'S VERY ANNOYING! HE'S ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD OF ME, LEAVING ME FEELING LIKE A FOOL. WHICH IS UNUSUAL FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS." He sighed. I kept an eye out for Sans, who didn't appear like I expected.

"I'M SURE WE'LL TALK SOME DAY. OH, AND COULD YOU PLEASE TELL YOUR ROBOT FRIEND THAT I DON'T LIKE HIM. I WASN'T REALLY THINKING, I WAS JUST WONDERING ABOUT FRISK."

Papyrus then brightened, standing up from his uncomfortable position.

"I THOUGHT OF FRISK AND THEN THEY APPEARED. I AM MORE POWERFUL THAN I THOUGHT!" He cried, rushing back to the kitchen. I heard a tiny giggle from upstairs and smiled. I'd try to communicate with them about Aperture tomorrow.


	7. Querys about Science

She didn't need any test subjects, She had founded the Co-operative Testing Initiative after all, specifically designed to phase out human testing. And the monster realm didn't deserve Her attention anyway; portalling through that dimension led to several of those creatures winding their way up into Her main chamber. Testing revealed this; they were mostly immune to neurotoxin, more talkative than acceptable, took a dislike to testing, and were too opinionated to bother with. It was like herding cats (and the only thing fun to do with cats is murdering them), so She concluded that She should continue to portal into that dimension, so that logically at one point Her best test subject would be there. Then she would fall through it, back to Aperture, and work would recommence.

Closing the 27th portal, GLaDOS shook Her core. There was perfectly enough science to be getting on with without Chell, so She may as well close that window and focus Her full attention to Blue and Orange, who would be moving this place forward. They were certainly intelligent enough.  
GLaDOS watched Orange shove Blue off an edge into a bottomless pit, their speakers emitting a snickering sound. Orange took a step back and fell into a portal, that left Orange in an eternal fall.

Science was going to wither in Her hands.

...

I awoke to thundering footsteps, I saw them skip downstairs, making a beeline to the door. But I had different ideas, gently pulling Frisk by the shoulder back from the exit. They spun round, not looking annoyed but slightly perplexed as to why I was stopping them. I held up several sheets of paper and some stray coloured pens that I found strewn across the house, written at the top I wrote ' _What happened in Aperture?_ ". They squinted at it, looked left and then right, then gave a shy smile as if we were sharing a secret (though I had no doubts that Sans knew). They picked up Wheatley by the handles, then took my hand in their weak child's grip, then led us out of the house with the core trailing on the ground.

"I think they're trying to lock us up in their dungeon." He whispered to me as Frisk led us into a cosy wooden shed that smelt of dog-food, and had for some reason four large steel bars in the centre. They walked through them with ease, taking my sheets of paper and pens and spreading them across the floor, then laying down and beginning to draw.

' **I'll show you.'** They wrote, before scribbling with the black pen amateurishly (which was to be expected from a child) as I peered over their shoulders. They stiffened, pausing to look up at me.

' **Don't look until I give it to you.'**

I beamed, and drew on my own piece of paper and encouraged Wheatley to get into his android form and do the same. For a dingy shed, there was ample light to draw, though I couldn't think of anything.

Eventually, after some almost silent drawing ("It's kind of quiet in here. Spooky, eh? I think my pen's running out. Remember yesterday when GLaDOS called you by your name? That was weird, wasn't it? She's gone soft..."), Frisk was ready to show her clumsy pictures to me. I took the four sheets and pulled them to my chest.

Picture 1: A purple and yellow blob carrying a white and black stick running through scribbly circles, in the background a grey square with a pink love heart on it, labelled ' **SOUL'.**

Picture 2: The purple blob waves stick-arms up as a square carries it into orange fire.

I looked at Frisk, noting how the lower half of their jumper was black due to the smoke, shivering with memories of the incinerator room.

Picture 3: A white long claw holds the purple blob over the fire as the square disappears.

Picture 4: Purple blob holds brown, white and red lump next to a shakily drawn white thing labelled ' **Nice lady'**.

Wheatley was right, GLaDOS truly had gone soft, enough to show compassion to a child at least. And the cake wasn't a lie. I was amazed.

Frisk gave the thumbs up at my picture, which was simply of two grinning skulls since I had nothing really to tell Frisk.

' _Did you see any drawings on the walls?'_

' **Yes. They had pictures of the Companion Cube, and I think the drawer-rer knew about the souls inside them too.'**

I nodded, even though it never _truly_ occurred to me that they were actually sentient, dismissing it as one GLaDOS's jokes.

"Oy Oy, isn't anybody going to look at my pictures?" Wheatley whined, his long limbs curled up to his chest. I took his heavily shaded picture of a circuit board and showed it to Frisk, who made it out to be the most brilliant picture in existence. This made his cheeks flush sky-blue. He held his second drawing; an exact image of me and Frisk sat doodling. It was beautiful, though I couldn't help noticing how scruffy I looked compared to the kid

We decided to keep all the drawings in the prison-shed-garage corner, and Frisk was the first to leave, though beforehand they handed me a strip of paper.

' **I no longer have unfinished business'**

It took me a split second to realise what this meant, but Frisk had set off determinedly before I could stop them. I blindly followed.


	8. Evil Narcissus Flower

Eventually I caught up with Frisk, we strode together, I appearing more concerned for their fate than Frisk was. The whole place seemed kind of deserted, as if all the monsters felt the tension in the air and what this battle with the king meant and had chosen to disappear. Such as Wheatley; He said he would stay in the shed away from conflict, thank you very much. _Why aren't they scared? I wasn't when I defeated GLaDOS, but I wasn't this confident._ Frisk stared straight ahead, their march unwavering, determined to free all the monsters with the power they had, like a young warrior. They Frisk looked up, their eyes brimming with tears. I held their hand the rest of the way.

Only when Sans appeared in the golden Hall of Judgement did we separate. Sans gave his nod of approval to Frisk, but stopped me from following.

"you killed somebody once." he stated, still smiling but his eyes were not into it. I stopped to think before realising he was talking about GLaDOS, and a sense of outrage came apon me.

"she may have tried to murder you" Sans read my mind "but that wasn't the right thing to do now, was it?" There was nothing I could do but shrug, and look to Frisk; but they weren't there, having left a little while ago. I wildly gesticulated and waved my arms at the place where Frisk once stood, and Sans seemed to adopt an almost pitying gaze, which just made my fury grow stronger. _Doesn't he know that I have to protect that kid?!_ I think he may have been about to speak when Undyne exploded through the hall.

"I NEED TO STOP THE FIGHT BETWEEN ASGORE AND FFRRIISSKKK, CCHHEELLL LLEEETT'SS GOOOO!" she screeched, literally grabbing me by the neck and physically dragging me through to the battle zone, leaving Sans behind.

I was thrown on the floor as Undyne was determined to stop the fight, but Frisk was just stood there gormlessly before two towering goat-monsters. They were all, smiling? I picked myself up, and couldn't help staring at Frisk. They were glowing; a heart shape in the centre of their chest, light coming from within, a warm red shade. They didn't appear to be worried about it.

"Hello, I am Toriel. Are you the humans friends? It is nice to meet you." The right-most goat introduced herself, a voice so saturated with love it could have ran like honey. Undyne turned awkward, grinning up to her ears and agreeing. I too smiled meekly and waved, then grimaced at the sentimentality of it all. Everybody was coming in through the doors, Sans and Toriel joked and united soppily and annoyed Papyrus. Frisk was loving it all, but I couldn't help feeling on edge, twitching and flicking back to the door. At one point I thought Wheatley had ran in, but it was simply another robot. I felt flushed, paranoid even; with any test or fight in Aperture I could always hide, stop, wait and think, yet there was nowhere to make sense of everything. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the mental panic.

"A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME."

"A tiny... flower?"

 _Oh, brilliant, more people._ But by the time I opened my eyes all the monsters were sized by vines, suspended in the air and incapable of action, the friendly flower I had seen before had a face contorted with malicious evil. Sans had lost his pupils, yet I could feel him willing me to do something. I looked at the flower, spitting cruel words at the kid. I looked at Frisk's horror-stricken face, and stepped between them and the malevolent plant.

"...Even if it means killing you a million times! Oh boy! Another human? Goody, this makes the "game" all the more fun! Murdering two is better than one." He said, voice dipping violently at the end, before returning to his usual chipper state. Frisk moved from behind to in front of me, but I put my arm out like a barrier; there is a difference between bravery and stupidity.

"Say, your soul doesn't surface, even in battle mode. But you're still human, and you're still gonna DIE!"

The wretched thing summoned bullets out of nowhere, surrounding us, inevitable. I wrapped myself around the child, an inadequate human shield. When the bullets circled and hit, I was left frozen and gasping. It felt almost identical to the turret fire; agony, left with the feeling that my blood was ice and acid. However, part of me thought that it wasn't as bad as a turret, I wasn't bleeding as far as I could tell. I shakily straightened up to see the flower had summoned yet more.

But he was too late to hit us, his eyes scrunched up in the blinding blue flash.

"Listen to me you _Mutated Narcissus Flora_ _,_ those are **mine** to have control over!" shouted our temporary saviour.

And the claws seized us and pulled us to safety.  
Or at least relative safety.  
I passed out.


	9. Morons spoil Everything

When I came to, I was in a regular test chamber, a shiny dual portal device a few feet in front of me. I lay on my stomach for a couple of seconds, dazed, before snatching the new portal gun and begun the tests. Furiously. Cautiously. Nervously, though not for my own safety. Testing was so much easier when the only life I was responsible for was my own. It didn't matter if She had taken us back, She always had a more malicious motive. I whacked the weighted storage cube.

Though it turned out that there was no need for great focus, as the majority were harmless cube and button based testing (with no scathing commentary, which I found peculiar) , the only danger in the last ones were turrets. Chirpy, easy to kick over turrets. Enemies like this I missed, that demonic flower was something else entirely. After the twelfth simple test, the wall before me unfolded to reveal GLaDOS' chamber, her ceiling screens occupied with images of a raging rainbow monster. I slowly stepped forward in fascination; a dumb move any other day, but it turned out She was preoccupied.

"Oh, you passed. Good. Simple cognitive tests, though they were. I hate to admit it, but we actually _need_ you. I've overpowered the cameras strategically placed round where you've been frolicking, analyse the situation."

The rainbow blasts cleared to show its likeness was a goat, though with disturbing ebony eyes. It was zooming across Waterfall, scanning the landscape for something desperately. Someone perhaps. I had a pretty good guess at whom.  
Frisk manifested from behind GLaDOS' mainframe, running towards me with great speed. I knelt to hug them, but they had their mind set on something else, pulling me to an old Aperture computer in the chamber and pointing at the keyboard.

"I had to put the abandoned thing to good use, just like you. Your small friend was just telling me about that monster and how it needs human..." GLaDOS had turned from us to observe a large monitor that was filing streams of data, and paused carefully.

"...souls." She said sourly, as if it was the most unscientific thing She had heard. "Seven, in fact, to gain a God-like form, who's power shall rival mine greatly. The creature had already absorbed all those in the vicinity, as well as the monsters. You are the only human sources however, so..."

She swivelled round, Her yellow ochre optic flashing brightly.

"Don't you believe Aperture is a better option? Than certain death and utter destruction of that dimension? Why the rush to go back?" She proposed kindly, tilting her core to the side like a begging puppy.

' **wheatley is back there'** I hammered into the keyboard, Frisk tentatively tapping the 'Enter' key. GLaDOS sighed.

"Ah yes, let's all rush to our doom for that _moronic_ piece of technology, literal evidence of Artificial Un-intelligence. Why does he matter? Don't bother answering; I've seen your attachment to the cubes. You're willing to hold dear any object that won't kill you."

I pouted, and withdrew from the table. Frisk hopped into my position, typing whilst up on their tiptoes.

' **what if flowey takes wheatley's soul?** ' popped up on a monitor, causing GLaDOS to softly chuckle.

" He's construct built for science! Why would he have a soul?" Suddenly GLaDOS dropped to a more serious tone. "Although, according to the database from many years ago, the moron was entirely based on an actual human. Who the scientists...exterminated, for lack of a better word. In your dimension, does that give the AI a soul?"

GLaDOS seemed apprehensive about giving this information out, though the fact that we we're all in danger lessened my surprise about this factor. I was more concentrated on the hypothesis on Wheatley having a soul. Frisk nodded gravely in answer to Her question.

"Oh. So there is a time pressure. Inferior cores always spoil it all, there's no easy way I can locate them. With his soul, with that much power, they could destroy _me_ and _my facility._ Chell, you're up!" She announced. My eyes must have been the size of golf balls.

 _Wheatley, human?! I have to battle a god of death?! Do I have the means to fight?!_

"You have a low percentage of success, 12. The ratio of losing to success is 3:25. However you've been known to disregard these statistics. I'll open the portal shortly."

I shoved Frisk (gently) aside, to thunder in my most pressing question.

' **Why did her soul glow and mine didn't?'**

GLaDOS hummed, studying me intensely, though maybe just waiting for me to figure it out for myself. I waited, still in the dark.

"You've been experimented on, isolated from society, and in suspension for many _many_ years. Your soul must just be a very small part of you, weak and pointless." She explained coldly.

 _A weak soul?_ I'd never thought about it, but being weak in anyway wasn't something I could deal with well. I had to be strong for everything that was to come. What if it was the death of me? The portal opened fully, leaving us dazzled in its glare. Claws seized Frisk and held them aloft as they desperately tried to go through. Trembling, I walked forwards.

"Good luck. _You'll need it."_


	10. Fight without a Cause

It had been a while since I had experienced a loneliness like that. Nothing like the forlornness experienced hiding in one of the dens in utter silence. It felt completely oppressive, even the running water sounded muffled. The only audible sounds must have been miles away, the destruction the flower/goat was causing. I still felt slightly bitter that GLaDOS couldn't conjure up any weapons from Aperture that would help me in the fight. My chest seized up; I had to get him away from Wheatley. In my minds eye he was back as a core, his optic barely a pinprick, shaking.

I leapt, and began running. My heavy footsteps must have been the only noise, as the monster immediately zoomed in on me. Gliding with enormous multicolour wings only a few feet off the ground, so I stopped in my tracks. He too halted, an awesomely powerful being to behold; I was amazed, as it looked as though he held the universe and more. My surroundings darkened dramatically, and I realised we were about to enter battle. His black cloak rippled endlessly, he raised his hands and formed rainbow missiles.

I tried desperately to avoid them, but the artillery was far too effective for me to have much of a chance. But the missiles whistled through me, stinging through my body. I shuddered, but recovered quicker than I expected. The attack ended, and I centred myself. There wasn't much to do but hope and struggle, with my tiny soul and that, I was pretty helpless.

"Still you're hanging on? I'd have expected that from the child, but not you." He snarled callously, though with not much effect. GLaDOS could have been sassier than that in sleep mode.  
It dawned on me that I was physically fine because the attacks we're mainly for breaking my soul. The next wave commenced.

I scampered and dodged, no hits that time thanks to being nimble. It was as though Aperture was just training for this moment. Within me, I felt as though I was frozen and couldn't move. I flexed my fingers. _I'm fine, I can move, no problem._

"You're weak, beneath me. You shall be trapped here FOREVER!"

 _Doubt it, I have science on my side. Cut it out._

The monster claimed he was Asriel Dreemurr, and went on with another weak insult with a smirk. My action was to fold my arms; I was tired of him already, waiting for him to feel the same way and stop appeared to be my only option. I felt rage bubbling. _What is HIS problem?!_

I was subjected to more blasts and missiles. I didn't even bother moving that much, letting them whirl around with that whiny hissing noise. My foot began tapping, bored of 'struggling' and watching Asriel grow yet more smug. Standing in the line of fire was never my thing, so logically I had to do something. He was too far away to punch with much effect, there were no nearby objects to throw either. I stepped forward, and grabbed hold of his cloak, tugging with all my might. The material was like gossamer silk, and yet incredibly strong as my rough hands gripped tighter.

"What are you doing? Your soul is meant to be confined! Do you know who I am now? Let go of me!"

Asriel attempted to blast me, but was failing miserably. Fury spurred me, not mere determination. _I'm more than a soul! I have a mind! I have intelligence! I have wits! I'm more than you think I am!_ I became caught up in whatever energy or magic that was making Asriel fly, soon floating up to where our faces were level. It was an odd sensation. I seized his elaborately decorated shoulders and shook him back and forth as if he was a misbehaving child.

"Hey! Stop!"

My legs were moving under their own volition, trying to stay upright. Letting go to thwack him was not an option. I looked into Asriel's eyes. I shook harder.

"Stop it! Why are you doing this to me?" He cried, voice cracking just a little at the end. Instinctively I paused, before shaking him around again. Leaning forwards so that my elbows were digging into him, so that we were nose to nose, so that he could see the fearlessness in my eyes. He whimpered, and then tried to turn it into a growl. I felt him try hopefully to blast my soul away. I felt the weight of it in my chest. So insignificant, but existent. Maybe, though it could have been a knot in my chest due to fear. I couldn't tell. _At least, I think I have one. I can feel, love if I so choose. Probably. Well, soul or not I haven't been hindered so far. I have to save them... Stupid Asriel._

"I don't understand. You don't even know half of them." He wailed, pitiful. I was tempted to slap him, but I noticed I small glittering tear slide out one of his almond eyes. _I'm not going to have to comfort him, am I?  
_ I wanted to scoff at the thought, but the idea became rather compelling. He was a terrible fighter, and murdering him wouldn't really solve anything. Not that I knew where to start with that idea.

"The other human cares, but why do you? S-stop! You're different, it's s-scary. I can't control you, can't control myself and..."

Asriel attempted another weak attack, and I felt a strange compassion for the thing that was more for than I could deal with. Ignoring his sharp horns atop his head and spikes on his shoulders, I went for a hug, resting my head round his neck. His fur was surprisingly soft and warm, the flesh beneath vulnerable. I could murder the heartless, but not the hurt. I heard a pathetic snivel, feeling his small sobs reverberating through his body.

"I'm so alone..."

I closed my eyes, but blinding whiteness took over, curious ghostly visions. Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, King Asgore, Toriel..I could feel all their energy going round like a carousel, but it was so little. It was strange, barely knowing them but understanding them so well. I felt as though I was standing before them, but they would pay me no attention. I thought of Frisk, trying to figure out what they would do in this situation. But simply thinking about them made all the monsters stronger, I could feel their hearts beating as one. It was beautiful. I stayed there, and in my mind I was reaching out to them all. Something resonated with Sans and...

"Haha, I don't want to let go."

The visions pulled away, I lifted my head. The angel of death had transformed into an adorable monster, pale fur and short snout, that I was holding with his tiny legs dangling above the ground. His paws were lost in the oversized sleeves of his jumper.

"Tell them I'm sorry." he said plaintively, the voice of a young child than a demonic flower. I looked around; nobody was there. Asriel looked around himself as well.

"I can return them all, if you want. But I'll become a flower again. Ignore Flowey, please; he's not really me. You're kind for a stranger. Thank you." He said, before wriggling out of my arms and rising upwards. Thousands of souls spiralled from and around him, and I covered my eyes to guard myself from them. He gracefully dropped down onto the ground, turning to me with eyes of optimism and yet sorrow. I wouldn't cry, I couldn't, I was stronger than this...

"...Take care of Mom and Dad for me won't you." Asriel begged, leaving me without a goodbye.  
I fell to the floor, wrapping my arms round myself like I had done before. So many times before in periods of loneliness. I didn't care to follow Asriel in case he saw me like this. I was too miserable to, besides. I ignored the noises of monsters that must have been in another room ahead. I needed time.

...

"Hey! Is it over? Because, there is less death and destruction going on now, so if my calculations are correct then- Wait are you okay? You're not dead, are you? Tell me if you're dead, won't you, as a common courtesy? Please? Remember when I fell off my rail, and you weren't sure if I was dead, but I said I was fine! Can you do that? Don't worry about the catching-me incident. I can catch myself now anyway!"

Bumbling and chatting away as usual, Wheatley unfurled my tired limbs and held my head so it was facing him. I'd been through too much that day to be any less limp, and gazed at his concerned face through half-closed eyelids.

"...You can tell me anything, if you're upset. I had to use my Sherlock-esque skills to deduce that you were sad. The tears being the most noticeable. I didn't realise you were in the fight, I'd have helped, but I thought that it would just be the kid. Where are they? Doesn't matter. But are you okay? Please be okay..."

He began shaking my head and tapping me, as if I was fading away. In a sense, it was as if I was.

"I'm...fine..." I breathed, barely a whisper. I endeavoured to sit up, but was too exhausted to do so.

"Oh, okay, I just needed confirmation is all- did you just speak? I was fairly confident you couldn't. Mute. Couldn't even say the word apple but now you ca-"

Finger to my lips, I motioned him to be quiet. Wheatley made broad silent nods, pulling the top half of me unto his legs. I expected them to be solid and cold, uncomfortable, but they we're quite the opposite. His heating system warmed my back, causing me to feel yet more drowsy. As I expected, he began to ramble on again.

"Yep, rest, that's what humans need. Working with all of them test subjects in suspension has told me one thing at least. Hehehe, oh, um, I'll look after you better than I did them. So you can sleep, I'll be here. Still. On guard. Alphys fitted me with some pretty nifty stuff, so if danger comes, I'll take care of it. Blam! Won't even see it coming. The danger, I mean. I'll see it coming a mile away, obviously ..."


	11. Souls and Sociopaths

"Heyy, pretty lady! You fight that multicolour punk! Man, I wish this wasn't on a screen, a seasoned Adventure Sphere like me would do well in a battle like this."

"Space! Space space! SPACE!"

"Whatever you say, buddy. Cheers for busting us out of that cage, kid, we can really see all the game up here."

"Fact: This is not a game."

"SPPAAACCEE!"

"Hey, calm down, I can't hear anything rainbow-boy might be saying. Oh, I have a good adventure story I can tell you, kiddo. Okay, this one time-"

"Quiet, all of you, before I extract your voice boxes and send you to android hell!" She exclaimed at the Corrupted Spheres, silencing them so that She may not be driven insane. Frisk's idea to set them free and let the cores roll around Her chamber like incompetent footballs wasn't one of their best.

"Woah, okay chief."

"...space..."

Frisk looked on at the screens displaying Chells fight, criticising her moves and believing there was a better and more moral way of doing it. However, as the battle was very close to being won, they didn't really mind, though was too anxious still to touch the cake, in case it all went wrong.

"I made it specially, using the few pieces of equipment that weren't made of lead, asbestos or moon dust. So it is in fact edible. Statistically. Consuming it may induce internal bleeding, but that's fixable."

They tapped at the keyboard beside them.

' **you and toriel would get along really well. she makes pies and you make cakes!'**

"I highly doubt our compatibility."

' **well, you're both reaally nice people'**

GLaDOS lowered the shutters on her optic, Her equivalent of frowning. Being referred to in such simplistic terms, just as any other common-or-garden machine, was taking quite some getting used to. _'I'm the most massive collection of wisdom that has ever existed.'_ She thought. Saying so might have sounded like bragging, however. The cores may have also wanted to bring up the point that most of their kind were created to control and repress Her anyway. She withheld Her metaphorical tongue.

' **i don't get it, how can she fight and care so much without a soul'** They typed, changing the subject. GLaDOS looked at the child, basically glued to the screen.

"Well, we are from different universes where souls don't really matter, surely that has to count for something." She proposed.

' **true, but she's in ours now. where souls _do_ matter. she should be murdering or something bad, or at least unable to feel** '

GLaDOS sighed. _'Lecture time it is_ '  
The computer screens blacked out, the desk pulled back through the panels in the walls. To their surprise, Frisk was lifted by a claw and was rotated to face GLaDOS, eye to optic.

"Souls _don't_ matter. Lets take the Narcissus-Flower to goat transition as an example. As a flower without a soul (which is to be expected of all flowers in a reasonable society), he was cruel and wanted to murder you. Now, as a goat with nearly every soul in the underground, he is cruel and wants to murder you. The only difference is a change in form and an increase in power."

Frisk scratched their nose as they swung five feet off the ground, the puzzled expression they wore was analysed by GLaDOS. She continued with yet more evidence.

"If it will help you wrap you're tiny mind around the concept, I'll use myself as an example. Would you say that I had a soul?"

They scrunched their nose up, then nodded vigorously.

"Huh, you read that document about Caroline in my system then. Proud? Very well, I have a soul. I also slaughtered hundreds of scientists and engineers when I was created." She stated, without a slither of remorse or feeling. Frisk tensed, pulling a face of abject horror. However, determined to love and forgive anyway, they tried to cover it up with a solemn look. It was laughable, and GLaDOS indeed snickered.

"This would seem logical if I hadn't a soul. I was reading up on myself, and my personality has been allegedly edited. But if I hadn't a soul, why would I have saved you, made you your own room, or painstakingly made a cake for you to utterly ignore without a second thought."

Frisk gave up trying to keep their head up, and flopped, letting the claw swing with more force. It was difficult for them to think about, but they had to agree with GLaDOS.

"Thus Chell is not evil, and souls don't matter."

"hey kid, what are you up to? just _hanging around_ I see."

Once released, the randomly-appearing Sans was met with a speedy rib-crushing hug. He seemed incredibly happy to see Frisk again, and ran his skeletal fingers through their hair.

"Oh, it's you, I thought you were supposed to be in mortal danger."

"nah, chell got through okay. we were all released, waited a bit, and now everyone is shuffling down to their houses."

Frisk looked up, confused.

"they're all waiting for you, kiddo, but as you might be here a while, we're staying inside comfortably before coming up to the surface with you. some of us wanted to congratulate chell, but she's sort of unconscious. and wheatley now has a cannon as an arm, so that's happening."

The screens came back to show Chell spayed across the floor, and two robots bickering, their dialogue crackling through on the tinny radio.

...

"Wheatley, darling, calm down.".

"How?! What do I do?!"

"She's just sleeping, I think. Can I take her boots, they're gorgeous!"

"No Mettaton! Can we take her to Alphys, just in case? "

"Why, you said she'd only been out for less than 10 minutes."

"Well, yes, but it was a big fight. I can't take any risks."

"Ugh, if it will help you stop panicking I'll stay with you. A celebrity must tend to their fans after all."

"No offence, but I don't think she knows you. At all. Never seen her watch telly anyway-"

"WHAT?! Okay, I'm going to sit here and tell the deprived thing my WHOLE life story, and the scripts from every show I've ever starred in! Everything!"

"Mett-"

"EVERYTHING!"

...

GLaDOS cut off the feed, and turned to Frisk, lowering Herself fractionally.

"You can wait until tomorrow before going back and then up to the surface, but now it's late. Go to bed." She commanded. Frisk let go of Sans, and put their hands on their hips to fully communicate "Fight me.".

"Bed, now. I have important scientific business to attend to."

They crossed their arms, and stepped towards the keyboard.

 **'I am the future of humans and monsters!'**

"Obey me, or I shall get out the turrets."

Defeated, Frisk waved at Sans and shuffled through a panel into their dimly lit (but cosy) room, whilst Sans laughed.

"I'll portal them back to your dimension tomorrow. Now that everyone there is free, will you quit meddling over here?" She queried politely, the best way to deal with powerful beings like him.

"eh, probably."

"Will you give back Chell?"

"eh, probably not. She deserves to be free, right?" He argued. GLaDOS didn't respond.

He clicked his neck and began his goodbyes.

"welp, I'm going to go to grillby's, although this place is mole- _cool_. sorry; I make science jokes _periodically_ , and hoped you'd have a better _reaction_ "

GLaDOS' whole mainframe shuddered in response to the terrible puns, and Sans vanished before She could do anything about it.

"I _must_ start working on weaponry. For science, of course."


	12. Call me back

_ENGAGING IN PHONE-CALL_

"Hello, Frisk. I thank you for giving me your phone number, despite you being a mute, which makes the whole idea slightly pointless. Having fun outside? Is Chell there? Tap once for yes, double tap for no.  
"Oh good. Pass the phone to the lunatic then. I wish to speak with her

"Greetings. Are you GLaD you escaped from Aperture? Crushing my heart in the process? Well, Science is continuing fine without you, you're worthless in the grand scheme of things. Wait, I can't lie to you, we've been friends for too long. _Well, at least I've tried_. It has been _terrible._ I built a Co-operative Testing Initiative, where bots will do the test chambers instead of humans. But the results are utterly useless. It's funny, what I hate the most is what I need the most.

"I can hear the wind whistling past on this crummy phone. Oh, I can picture it now. Stood, after everything, finally on the surface. The organic soil feeling different, a good different, under your boots. You're surrounded by caring monsters who would not like to murder you, and you all look at the sky, for the first time. You think it's _beautiful_. The warm rays of the sun hitting your face gently, dappling everything in a lovely gold. You are fascinated by the spectrum of natural colours, all rich and indescribably _real_. There is a contented silence, merely disturbed by the noises of small birds.

"Well I can replicate all of that _here!_ You wouldn't be missing out. And if you came back, you'd also have a true purpose, you're a Science Expeditioner. Your best friend is also here too. That's right, your Faithful Companion Cube! He wasn't incinerated after all, he is still alive. We can all have a party, with cake. You know it's not a lie now you've seen it. The portals will always be open for you to come back a-"

"No."

"You spoke? Wait you aren't considering this proposal carefully enough, you stubborn hotheaded-"

_CALL ENDED_

.

_ENGAGING IN PHONE-CALL_

"Now, Chell, **listen to m** -"

_CALL ENDED_

.

_ENGAGING IN PHONE-CALL_

"After all I've done for you. Even though you killed me, I forgive you. Can you not find it in your non-existent heart to do the same?"

"..."

_CALL ENDED_

.

_ENGAGING IN PHONE-CALL_

"Give me an explanation! I shouldn't have to beg, being someone of my intelligence."

"I'm happy here."

"That's no reason to not visit Ape-"

_CALL ENDED_

.

_ENGAGING IN PHONE-CALL_

"Okay then, I think we can come to an agreement-"

"WOWIE FRISK! A CALL FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS FROM YOUR METAL FRIEND! NYEH HEH HEH! HELLO GLADYS, SANS HAS TOLD ME MUCH ABOUT YOU. ARE YOU REALLY A SCIENTIST!?"

"What? Ugh, forget it."

_CALL ENDED_


	13. Who's there?

Having a portal continually open connecting Aperture to the realm of the monsters, though nice and symbolic and everything, was having it's downsides. That being all the creatures that had chosen to remain always wandered in and were poking about with everything. GLaDOS gave them permission to take some cores on the condition that they would leave Her be. Not that there was much for them to disturb.

Chell wasn't coming back, and She'd accepted that. Begrudgingly. So now the days were spent scanning the vegetables that slept in the cryogenics, all useless. The only information that could be harvested was "Test Subjects need some form of material to reanimate", the least helpful analysis results. GLaDOS switched Her optic settings to view the virtually dead humans in a more meta form, to overlay Her regular vision. There was definitely something missing; looking at humans in this option always meant you could see a yellowish glow. Like a bad representation of the human form-

"Howdy there!"

She slowly and deliberately rotated to face the flower. He grinned and bobbed up and down, as if dancing to imaginary tunes. Then his smile twisted into a more sinister and horrific one, despite flowers not even having facial muscles (let alone faces) in this universe, as his squinting eyes held a glimmer of recognition.

"You're the one who spoiled my wonderful plan, right?" He spat.

In Her pleasant vocal default setting, GLaDOS merely said "Hello."

Flowey chuckled, both amused and yet bemused. He continued his pre-written monologue.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here, how I found you. And you're an idiot for questioning my actions, as I know you're thinking that."

"Where is the rest of you?" She asked quietly, turning Herself slightly to the left.

"W-what?" He stammered. New timelines were difficult: All his previous confidence was gone due to the wild unpredictability of things. Flowey covered his confusion with a solid smirk. The machine directly in front of him was not making clear eye contact, instead staring above him. He took it to mean intimidation.

"The...rest of me? What kind of moron are you?"

"Inhabit somebody, or engage inside one of the empty cores, that way we can communicate, and I won't have to make irrational estimations."  
Before an insulting response could escape from Floweys pollen-encrusted lips, GLaDOS dipped Her optic down to his level.

"I was _talking_ to the human." She whispered.

Wrapping his leaves around himself, he nervously backed out of the portal, gaze flickering around the chamber for the elusive Frisk. Or Chell. Whichever, didn't matter.

But nobody came.

The portal closed, a couple of blue sparks bounced across the floor in a bouncy dance. GLaDOS swivelled round, following the 'invisible' being. The glowing figure only visible to Her distanced itself from the flower in a slow, delicate manner. One of the discarded computers began to flicker, it's state-of-the-art screen changing from tangerine shades to blood orange. A fuse snapped, and the gentle hums of machinery turned into insane whirrs of sheer power, and there was an enormous bang.

She shut Her optic to protect it, and once it was all clear, the examining of equipment was necessary. The shattered screen was, in part, operational. Well, there was a piece of text that remained, a single word.

"Chara. That's...interesting. Well, Chara, I believe we should get down to business. For science."


	14. Welcome to Aperture

The sweet scent of sugary pastry and spices wafted up in my face due to the strong wind, the moistness at least preventing my eyes from watering in the cold. I looked down at the handwritten note that had been lovingly written and pressed into my palm with the express purpose of handing to the recipient of her kindness.

' ** _Dearest Glados,_**

 ** _I would like to thank you for your mercy and love that you have shown to my child whilst under your care._**

 ** _They are safely at home now,_**

 ** _however they feel too poorly to visit you, which is why I have sent_**

 ** _darling Chell with a Cinnamon and Butterscotch pie for you to enjoy._**

 ** _Lots of Love,_**

 ** _Toriel_**

 ** _XXX'_**

I smiled, then grimaced as the climb of the mountain took a turn for the worst. Indeed, I had taken the long route round to the Underground, but it was an interesting journey up and a pleasant break from everyone. It seemed that all the monsters wished to invite all the humans to talk. Fortunately, the majority were friendly, but some obviously felt sour about the so called 'invasion situation'. And I realised humans were insanely talkative, but I was not yet ready to share my own voice. I felt glad for my bakery-spurred mission.

Eventually, I reached the void. Despite bending over and peering down I could not see the bottom, where I was promised there would be a patch of golden flowers to break my fall. Although I had my Long-Fall Boots on, my apprehension was building, so I adjusted my grip on the pie so that it was firm, and my thumbs were pressing down on the pastry to prevent it from flying away. I kicked a few pebbles down as I shuffled closer to the edge, then blindly leapt.

The brief journey downward was a pleasant one at least, but as I landed a girly shriek rang out. Initially I thought it was my own scream that I involuntarily released, but as I took a few steps back I saw a crushed and twitching flower.

"Ugh, first Her, now you. Things can never be wonderful..."

Ignoring his woeful and bitter complaints, I headed into the Ruins.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"You're in a female body now, I'll take a note of that for when _testing_ begins. You get ready to leave the Enrichment Centre, whilst I return the 'Determination' and the various other items from Alphys. _By myself._ I doubt robbing her has helped her severe anxiety. You monster."

Chara pulled a face as feeling came back over her, thousands of pins and needles shivering over her new body. A sensation that lasted longer than she had hoped. The jumpsuit she was wearing she also realised was damp with stale sweat, and so all of her skin was uncomfortably tacky. With her eyes closed, Chara tried to feel around the room for a sink, tap or anything that she could use to wash herself and get a drink from. Eventually, she resorted to pulling apart her eyelids and scraping the years worth of sleep out, the task aided by the blinding lights, as the tears washed out the rest.

Chara staggered back, flicking her squinted gaze about her. Her new form was gripped with a dull ache, and so stumbling to the orange portal she pressed her hand firmly on the glass.

Her physique wasn't everything she had desired. Short in stature, skinny and grey, hair mousier than ever. Being a girl wasn't an issue, after all gender doesn't matter if one intends to murder everyone. There wouldn't be anyone left to judge anyway. She retreated from the portal, grinning from ear to ear.

"Go on... The test chambers are just beyond the portal." GLaDOS gently encouraged.

The revitalised muscles pulled into a frown, and she glowered at the camera before her.

"This is no time for resistance, I gave you this body, and it is honestly the least you could do is solve a couple of hundred tests. It's been so long." She stated rather than whined.

"I did...this. You...can't boss...me around!" Chara choked out after a brief coughing fit. Her tongue felt like lead, and as though her organs were going to cave into themselves, and so she made a note not to speak until she'd had a drink of some sort.

 ** _"NEUROTOXIN ONLINE"_**

"Well, technically, I did this _for you_. I got the most fresh human out of cryogenic storage. You have a body. Which I can take away with great ease, so I'd suggest you go through the portal to the test chambers. And just think: At the end, maybe I'll let you have a slice of _delicious_ cake."

 ** _"NEUROTOXIN ON STAND BY"_**

She stepped through the portal, and into the first test chamber, scowling at the large red button before her. She wondered what the 'testing' would be like: testing her fighting skills, testing her determination, testing her wits? Fear washed over her as she watched the cube fall out of it's storage.

 _Oh God, puzzles. It's identical to being trapped with a psychotic Papyrus.  
_ Chara was rooted in disbelief, cursing herself for not fully exploring this new world properly.

There was seven minutes of long silence before the feed came back on.

"Oh wait, pie. You can have a slice of pie. But only if you do successfully, and currently _you are not_ _doing successfully._ Moron."


End file.
